Again, Bariyan did not notice that anything was immediately wrong. He merely blinked down at himself, hands and feet suddenly stuck in place and thought strange.

Then his gaze flickered up and he saw the lance headed straight for him.

Bariyan tried to move, again, to dodge it -- but he went nowhere, and the point cracked through his shoulder, splintering bone as it went. He made a futile attempt to wrench himself away from it. Nothing.

Panic started to settle in.